An Unexpected Talent
by Super Fucking Cholo
Summary: A particularly hot day brings out a strange talent no one but Alvar (Fem!Armin) knew that Esmond (Male!Annie) possessed. (Rated T for Eren's potty mouth. I have an extensive list of reasons why I use these names for the genderbends on my AruAni appreciation blog. Just type in aruani-appreciation dot tumblr dot com /genderbends. That should clear up any confusion.)


**AN: So, I've taken a liking to writing for the genderbends of the SnK characters. As said in the description, if you type in that url, you'll find out why I used those names, as well as more short little fics I've written for the genderbends.**

**Enjoy!**

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Esmond wasn't the friendliest guy on Earth, and he would never pretend to be. He was moody, he didn't like talking to people, he tended to stay as far away from large groups as he could; he truly was a lone wolf in every sense of the word. There was one thing, though, that always persuaded him to interact with people; that thing was their hair.

The first time Esmond ever let his strange weakness show, was during training on a particularly hot day. Eren - whose hair was unruly and unkempt, save for special occassions - was running around the camp, complaining to anyone that would listen, about how her "Stupid hair keeps on getting in the way!" At first, her complaining was humorous; it stopped being so, though, after an hour,

Walking up to Esmond, Alvar nudged him gently in the side and stared at her friend - half annoyed, half amused - as she continued on her rant. "You know, you've helped me with my hair a few times before. You're pretty good with that kind of thing! Do you think you could help her?" she asked, a pleading look on her face. "I'm sure everyone would appreciate it..."

Esmond was going to say no to her and walk away from the situation, but the cute little pout on her face was making it hard for him to do that. Damn her for being so cute. He hesitated a few moments before answering with an exasperated, "Fine." followed by throwing his hands in the air, sighing.

Smiling, Alvar reached out her hand and took a hold of Esmond's, squeezing it gently. "Thanks." she said, before walking off to talk with Aiada and Iris.

A blush coming onto his face, Esmond wondered why Alvar had done that. Realizing that wasn't important right now, he shook off the feeling of butterflies fluttering in his chest and made his way over to Eren.

"Eren, shut up for a second and come over here." he said, stopping a few feet in front of the still seething mad teenager.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" she asked, swiveling around to face him. "Don't tell me what to do, Esmond!"

Not impressed with Eren's little display of rude behavior, Esmond rolled his eyes and approached her, swiftly placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her around so her back was facing towards him.

"W-what the fuck are you doing to me?" she asked, started to struggle against his hold.

"I'm trying to help you, if you would just stand still for one damn moment." he said through gritted teeth, searching through the crowd of kids for Alvar; he could use her help to calm down her best friend at a time like this. Instead, he found Daryn. That would have to suffice for now.

Signaling him over, Esmond had to be careful to not look suspicious; Daryn was very protective of Eren, and Esmond didn't want to start a fight over a misunderstanding of motives.

"What are you doing to her?" was Daryn's greeting when he got close enough to the struggling pair.

"I'm trying to fix her hair for her," he struggled to say as Eren kept up her fight. "But she won't stop trying to fight me."

Giving both Esmond and Eren a strange look, Daryn finally sighed and stepped forward, taking a hold of Eren's arms and easily pinning them to her sides. "Eren. Calm down." he said, holding her still until she was calm.

"Since when are you siding with him?" Eren asked, bewildered, and still ignorant to what was going on.

"He's only trying to fix your hair for you."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, why didn't he just say so?"

One audible sigh from Esmond, a light smack to Eren's head from Daryn, and an apology from Eren later brought the trio back to the original purpose of them standing there.

"Alright, almost done." Esmond said, narrowing his eyes in concentration as he finished up Eren's bun. It had proved to be harder than he thought it was going to be, but it wasn't impossible; besides, Eren's hair felt nice between Esmond's fingertips. It didn't feel as nice as Alvar's baby soft hair, of course, but it still felt nice enough to be worth all the trouble he went through.

A few moments later and Esmond was done. "You can go now." he said, pulling away from the girl.

"Thanks, Esmond." she said, a gratuitous expression on her face.

"It was nothing." he responded, walking off.

Ever since that day, none of the guys in the Trainee's Squad let Esmond live down the fact that he was good with hair; especially since it was girl's hair. Not seeing any shame in the fact that he had a talent, Esmond shrugged off the other's jokes, taking them as a sign that he could be open about his passion. Besides, if the joking ever got to be too much, he could always beat their asses into shape with no problem.

Strategy Learning was always his favorite class, seeing as Alvar sat in front of him; Alvar with her perfectly stunning head of hair. Esmond could sit behind her all day, just running his fingers through it, making the occasional comment of, "How do you get your hair so smooth?" or, "Your hair's almost as beautiful as your personality."

Although all the comments and invasion of personal space made it somewhat hard for Alvar to concentrate during class, she had to admit she loved the attention. It wasn't often that Esmond complimented anyone, and she knew these compliments were reserved only for her. It made her feel special, if not just a little embarrassed; especially since the whole class just sat and stared blankly the entire time.

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**Thank you for reading!**

**Please give me your opinion on the names, or anything in general that you liked/disliked about the story~**


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